Prior to last night's TIFF gala, the Malaysian actress revealed she got kicked out of Burma while researching the role of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi for Luc Besson's new film, The Lady.
There are two facts most people know about Aung San Suu Kyi. The first is that she is a Burmese pro-democracy activist and the second is that she was under house arrest for a decade before she was released last year. Director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) tries to bring more Nobel Peace Prize winner’s life to moviegoers in his biopic, The Lady.
The Roy Thomson Hall gala for the film was more subdued, since everyone exhausted themselves by yelling out Madonna’s name a few hours before that, so here are some choice quotes from the press confernce earlier in the day:
Michelle Yeoh, who plays Suu Kyi, on what she knew about her character: “Obviously, coming from Malaysia, we all knew who she is. But, unfortunately, because she has been in and out of house arrest since ’88, we’ve really forgotten the exact reasons why, who and what was truly involved. In the last three years, the news that came out was when the Americans swam into her compound and her house arrest was extended for another 18 months and then news about her resurfaced. But by then, [writer] Rebecca [Frayn] had already finished the script and approached me with the first draft, and I knew this was not just a role of a lifetime but a story that really needed to be told. I lived and breathed her for the last four years. I learned Burmese. I slept with her, I woke up with her. It’s necessary not just to mimic and give you a two-dimensional concept of who she was but to allow you to come into her world.”
Yeoh on meeting Suu Kyi and subsequently getting kicked out of Burma: “The first time I met her was actually when we were filming in Bangkok and we decided that, since we were literally next door, we should try and go in [to Burma]. Luc and everybody else had their visas denied but I was allowed to go in. So I went and I think everybody was a bit worried for me. I felt it was the right thing for me to do. I met up with Aung Suu for an incredible two days. About two months ago, Luc and the rest had their visas and I decided I would join them and hopefully we would all get to meet with her again. This time [the Burmese authorities] were very firm, very polite and escorted me straight out of the country. They said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I said, “Don’t be sorry, just let me into your country.” They said “no” and I think they just wanted very clearly and quickly to show just how closed a country they are and I was very saddened and disappointed at that point. I thought, “Should I make a big fuss and say, ‘No, you have no right to deny me entry,’” but then I thought it wouldn’t do anybody any good. It was actually them who released [the story] to the press that they would not allow me into the country. But I will go back again. I’ll be back.”
